New To Me Kearney and Trecker 2CH

Today my "new" Kearney and Trecker 2CH was delivered to my garage. I got rid of my 2K horizontal in favor of the 2CH because it came with a universal high speed head with a movable quill and was in much better shape than my 2K. Unfortunately I didn't get to test it out before buying it. All of the spindle speeds work fine but the X, Y and Z axes have no power feed. When I pull up on the rapid a horrible grinding sound is produced. I've watched Keith Rucker's video on fixing the clutch on his K&T mill. I assume that is what is wrong with mine. If I feather the rapid traverse lever I can get the X, Y and Z axes to move. If I feather it too much, yet before it grinds, it actually stalls out the motor. If I don't have any of the axes feeds engaged and I pull up on the rapid then it grinds but doesn't stall the motor. This behavior can't be good. Lastly, I pulled the plate off to view the spindle gears. Oil isn't being pumped and distributed to all of the points. There is plenty of oil in the spindle gear housing. Can anyone comment on the lack of power feed and the oil issue before I take a deep dive tomorrow?

I scored the 2K a while back for $320. This time around I paid $420 for the 2CH with the vertical head. I felt like I stole it.

Parts book if needed

Kearney & Trecker Co. - Publication Reprints - 5hp No.2 CH Cat No. CHR-33 | VintageMachinery.org

Make sure the motor is turning in the correct direction, there should be an arrow cast in the machine showing the direction.

The rapid noise could also just be the small clutch adjustment on the right side of the knee, there should be an access door to reach it. There is a spring loaded pin with a knob on the clutch that engages on a ring. The ring has holes around its diameter and you pull the pin and move to the next hole to tighten, or back a hole to loosen the clutch plates.

If none of your power feeds work it could be a number of things inside the machine.

The motor rotation was incorrect. I corrected that and the oil began flowing. I noticed the table moving and realized that the power feeds were working. I don't know this machine too well, but my 2K's power feeds weren't dependent on the correct motor rotation. Thanks for the tip on verifying motor rotation. I can't believe I overlooked such an obvious thing.

It really needs a bigger e-stop button!!! looks like a nice machine.

Yeah the place I got it from had a company come in and install OSHA conforming safety devices on all machines. Some of their solutions for the manual machines were insane. In this case that stupid shield has two switches to ensure that the shield is in position. These two switches wire to a ATI dual channel safety relay. That relay controls the motor contactor. The stupid thing is the E-Stop and Stop buttons do the same thing; they turn off the safety relay output to the motor contactor. One would think the E Stop would engage an electronic motor brake so your arm doesn't continue getting twisted up as the motor slowly decelerates.

How does one hold the spindle to loosen the draw bar on the vertical head? It looks like I am going to need to make a special wrench to engage the splines of the quill. Does anyone have a picture of K&T's original solution?

How does one hold the spindle to loosen the draw bar on the vertical head?

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Put machine in low speed, turn off motor, engage clutch and loosen draw bar. It should NEVER be so tight as you can't do this easily - I.E. - zero harm to gear train/clutch

I couldn't tell from reading this thread if you had the op manual; if not it is here, several machines in one book

Kearney & Trecker Co. - Publication Reprints - Ch 11 Operator's Manual | VintageMachinery.org

supahonkey said:

The motor rotation was incorrect. I corrected that and the oil began flowing. I noticed the table moving and realized that the power feeds were working. I don't know this machine too well, but my 2K's power feeds weren't dependent on the correct motor rotation. Thanks for the tip on verifying motor rotation. I can't believe I overlooked such an obvious thing.

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Other threads I've read warn of terrible things that will happen to the 2CH if the 3-phase rotation is reversed even for one rev. Maybe you and your machine are living proof that the warning is given in error, or maybe you were just lucky, does anyone know?

supahonkey said:

How does one hold the spindle to loosen the draw bar on the vertical head? It looks like I am going to need to make a special wrench to engage the splines of the quill. Does anyone have a picture of K&T's original solution?

View attachment 184184

Click to expand...

I know this is a wicked old thread but as an FYI for people in the future, on K&T machines you push the clutch lever to the right (opposite of "drive") to engage the brake to hold the spindle for tool/holder changing, can be done with motor running, be sure to move the lever the proper way.